Power Regeneration (Song) - Song that increases the group's rate of power regeneration, reducing downtime between battles. Uninterruptible if an instrument is required. Only one song can be sung at a time.

Okay, I have a question, folks. I'm trying to figure out what character I want to play to higher levels. Right now I have a lvl 5 skald and a lvl 8 thane. For me, personally, I like to either fight alone or in a group rather than be the buff bot. Anyway, discounting the help you can give to a group, it seems to me that a skald is just a much much weaker version of a thane. Two thanes can take reds together or oranges solo. I died half the time fighting yellows alone or oranges with a partner with a skald.

Am I missing something here or does the skald simply trade fighting ability for the ability to group buff/heal?

Okay, I have a question, folks. I'm trying to figure out what character I want to play to higher levels. Right now I have a lvl 5 skald and a lvl 8 thane. For me, personally, I like to either fight alone or in a group rather than be the buff bot. Anyway, discounting the help you can give to a group, it seems to me that a skald is just a much much weaker version of a thane. Two thanes can take reds together or oranges solo. I died half the time fighting yellows alone or oranges with a partner with a skald.

Am I missing something here or does the skald simply trade fighting ability for the ability to group buff/heal?

Okay, I have a question, folks. I'm trying to figure out what character I want to play to higher levels. Right now I have a lvl 5 skald and a lvl 8 thane. For me, personally, I like to either fight alone or in a group rather than be the buff bot. Anyway, discounting the help you can give to a group, it seems to me that a skald is just a much much weaker version of a thane. Two thanes can take reds together or oranges solo. I died half the time fighting yellows alone or oranges with a partner with a skald.

Am I missing something here or does the skald simply trade fighting ability for the ability to group buff/heal?

Okay, I have a question, folks. I'm trying to figure out what character I want to play to higher levels. Right now I have a lvl 5 skald and a lvl 8 thane. For me, personally, I like to either fight alone or in a group rather than be the buff bot. Anyway, discounting the help you can give to a group, it seems to me that a skald is just a much much weaker version of a thane. Two thanes can take reds together or oranges solo. I died half the time fighting yellows alone or oranges with a partner with a skald.

Am I missing something here or does the skald simply trade fighting ability for the ability to group buff/heal?

Okay, I have a question, folks. I'm trying to figure out what character I want to play to higher levels. Right now I have a lvl 5 skald and a lvl 8 thane. For me, personally, I like to either fight alone or in a group rather than be the buff bot. Anyway, discounting the help you can give to a group, it seems to me that a skald is just a much much weaker version of a thane. Two thanes can take reds together or oranges solo. I died half the time fighting yellows alone or oranges with a partner with a skald.

Am I missing something here or does the skald simply trade fighting ability for the ability to group buff/heal?

OK ive had limited experience with Skalds but if you cant do yellows then ur speecin wrong. And if there r 2 of u wat classes were u? Skald is a support class rather than a pure soloer.

If your only level 5 then some yellow con will be tough and OJ can be closer to red sometimes. If your that low u probably have very low battlesongs and low weapon skill. I maxed out my songs at 5 with my saved points and at 6 started points into axe. So i have songs at lvl and weapon close behind.

I solo yellows fine and some OJ but if the mob has high resists then ur DD/stunn abilities are not goin to help.

No offence to Thanes but who would u rather grp with? The Skald who helps the grp and can melee if needed or the Thane who is a gd tank but a warrior/zerker/etc could have been better.

Btw u didnt roll a kobby did u? Oh yeah forget 1H go 2H and songs are based on charisma not piety or empathy

#Anonymous,
Posted:Sep 01 2002 at 4:32 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Help me im in need of almost anything i can get my hands on if you read this please stop by the nimune server if you have a char in midgard on it please help me my in-game name is Slowman i will be checking on this board every chance i have if you have anything thank you

I love playing my skald on Andred but for those that think we are overpowered there are some flaws in our abilites (which there should be, all classes have). Our DDs are very limited in range, good for hand to hand but not disrupting pet classes, mages or archers. The mez helps deal with pet classes by tagging the pets then charging the caster but the duration is short on mez so you need to be quick. We can only wear chain (and scale on PvP servers). We get 1.5 points per level. Basically means max your BS line and then dump into weapon for decent damage or some shield and weaker 1 handed weapon.

After playing a scout, these are a nice change. Good melee damage, can take some heavy hits in PvE, "casting" on the run is great and despite the template that almost everyone uses in PvP combat, they do offer a variety of choice with different chants and such.

i have trol skald use crafted 2 hand hamer (884 wc and proud of it =)) u keep hamer and song 3/4 ur lvl and the rest in parry. The key to kiling everything is resistances. my skald has 26 slash res and 22 thrust res. only think that has a small chance to kil me mele is a warden with 6th bladeturn.

bards and minstrels are better suited for grouping...they are not so much tanks.

Skalds do not get endurance or mana regen skalds get weaker shouts skalds do not get AoE mez, stuns, heals, insta heals if you play your minstrel/bard correctly, you can be just as deadly...only in different situations.

to the person who said they have a cleric with level 40 smiting... yes, your stun is only 9 seconds at level 40 (stuns let you attack while not being attacked), but your mez...is AoE and lasts much longer. You are..

A stunning, insta AoE mezzing, chain DD-ing, Plate wearing, Self buffing, Melee damage boosting, Caster, with insta heal (which means you get another life basically)... if you have trouble with a yellow healer, im sorry to say, you stink...or it wasnt a 1v1

I don't have a lot to say except Scalds rock. Their 1v1 capability dosen't touch a tank at the same lvl, their shouts cant touch a magic users at the same lvl and we cant insta heal. However you ask any group what the most important single member will be and its a toss up Scald or healer. If your in a raiding party its a Scald all the way. Scalds are not for everybody, you have to like to interface in a group and you have to be able to follow a leader (cause you'll most likely be the pup in every grp till your 50)but the bennies are that you can be 10 to 15 lvls lower than any member of a group and they will most likely snatch you up for your party buffs (awesome xp). I dont expect non Scalds to understand but next time your running or outnumbered, think of us "underpowered" weaklings (LOL) who could have saved you ****** Respectivly yours Gwoab Redstone MLF Temple Perilous

I have a lvl 41 thane and now a lvl 26 Skald.. My skald has lost to nobody in 1v1 RvR so far.. I can take out polearm armsmen easy just dd them smackt them snare run away dd more mez run away dd more smack smack. I can take out blue con caster in 1 hits mostly with my dds. Assasin classes try to Backstab me but it just ****** me off I turn around and kill them.. It takes at least 2 assasins to kill me unless there red con or somthing. Skald rock mabey its because im using all AF 66 + DF gear and all lvl 25 - 40 Magic items dont know but I am unstoppable in RvR so far.

ive been reading all the stuff that has been said about skalds and, and how midgard is mythics favorite realm, lol... we are the realm of warriors yet albs and hibs do the same amount of dmg us midgards do, funny how that works, albs are the realm of wizards, and hibs are the realm of healers, more of a mix tho, skalds are not over powered, skalds die as much as anyone else does, bards have a AOE insta mez, skalds dont get that, a normal alb tank or hib tank can waste a skald 1v1

Lol, he thinks skalds gets da shaft. Maybe a kobold skald that specs in weapon and parry more than battlesongs lol. In a 1v1 situation the only class that may be able to take us are those pesky theurgs. Only because you can't get close enough to smack him or use your DD.

Likewise, my system to killing a yellow thrusting polearm armsman is:

ENTERING COMBAT: DD1 DD2 SNARE RUN A BIT AWAY

WHEN DDs RESET: RUN BACK DD1 DD2 MEZZ RUN A BIT AWAY OR STAY

**WHEN DDs RESET AGAIN: RUN BACK/FACE DD1 DD2 SMACK EM GOOD /VICTORY

TURN ON SPEED AND WATCH YOUR BACK

** IF TARGET DIES BEFORE THE THE THIRD ROUND, SIMPLY REPLACE WITH A /VICTORY

Hey man, I've said it before, it's not the class. It's the people. I've seen every class get murdered every now and then because of either stupid players or bad luck. Test the damage with different weapons. I use two-handed axes and they do great.

I really doubt ur telling the truth, Skalds Own almost every other classes in a true 1 vs 1, especially when they try to run away snare Ruiner DD DD Provoke Mez 2 more hits.....ummm there's the answer Skalds rox!

Listen up all u newbie taxi´s out there (skalds red.) -U might want to consider giving up ur skald now or u will get stuck with it all the way to lvl 50 -I say this bcause Im alwys invited to group, even if I´m not looking, and ppl tend to give me aal sorts of Uberpower items just as thx. -Like the other night when I suddenly found myself seeing an "accept trade" when I was standing and selling loot in Hag. -And ofcourse I gladly acc. that 2H twilight sword given to me (A named lvl 43 wpn with +2 sword +6% heat and dmp 15.4 speed 4.5)-Cant really use it fully= that DD dmg every 3 sec. giving 88 in dmg. at range 1500 untill Im lvl 43 -Im only lvl 28 now*S* -So now u r warned..-Don´t come whining to me when u r getting all those "please join my group" msg bcause u forgot to turn on ur "anon" -GL to all u hib and -albi kickassers out there..

To the Man who posted awhile ago about how his Skald gets owned 1 on 1 by any other class, i HARDLY doubt that for acouple of reasons. 1. I have 47 Cleric on Albion MLF, and i RvR half of the time i can play. And i Barly Solo a yellow tank ESPECIALLY ANY type of Midgard tank, I got owned by a yellow Healer for god sakes. 2. I dont think Skalds are overpowered persay, But the whole dang realm is overpowered. And to the man who said that Clerics get the Insta me/DD/insta heal. It Helps but it is no life saver our Stun lasts 9 seconds at a skill lvl of 40 in smiting. My AE Mez lasts 21 Seconds and that is the second best in the game for clerics. Anyways. I dont know about u guys cuase you play Middies but personally i think they should toon down Healers ALOT or something. I mean for God sake. AE stun, AE mez, single target mez, INSTA HEAL, Chain, AND GETS STYLES. WTF IS THAT. Personally that is bull @#$@$. I know everyone will be "Well they dont get any DDs or anything" and let me tell you something, in the end of the day DDs mean Nothing it is Mez and AE Stun. Albion Gets NO Ae Stun, We get AE root, big woopdie do. Usually some dumb Wizzie does a AE and bam its all over. With you Mids you can AE Stun and it doesnt matter is a Runnie comes over and Aes his heart out. Anyways, Skalds, You guys shouldnt be whinning about how your class sucks or this or that. On Over half the Servers Mddie has owned every Relic some time or another. I know on Lancelot Albion owns but thats becuase over half the server is Albion. Welp I let it all out Have a nice Day :)

Healers get styles? umm ok. When mez gets completly nerfd which will be soon healers are going to suck royal in RvR. Ive played against some very feasome clerics. Yes albion on lancelot is over-populated its stupid Grow a nut sack and join hib or midgard.

sure...skalds are besides a tane and a pally the most valuble melee classes, while a skal has more group songs then a pally (pally only got a AF chant more :P) but it think their power in RvR is too high. whil a cleric hast to cast for a 20 sec. buf about 5 sec. a skald does an instant 1 min mezz & snare. if he is outnumbered he just runs his turbo and "see ya dudes...." allthough he cant mess with another melee class (albion...forget bout hibi tanks..) he still kicks ***. so overall: -while a cleric\theurg\etc. has to cast a 20 sec. mezz he has an insta 1 min. -while bards an minstrel have to use instruments..hes just singing. -if mezz dosent work or is resisted he still hast a instant snare. -instant stun to interrupt caster (works great if speed is acctive - run in - interrrupt- run out) -still a good melee class

Im not here to ***** around-but i wonder what u other ppl, esp. skalds, think of it.

Just wanted to clarify a couple things... We (Skalds) don't get a 1 min instant mez. At the highest level it is a 29 second mez we can recast every 30 seconds.

If we are outnumbered we can only turn on the speed and get out if we don't get hit. Once hit speed song drops you us to a crawl. And we can't turn on speed song during battle and expect to get out.. doesn't work that way.

In RvR a Skald dies just as fast as anyone else -- until you really learn the strengths of the class and use them effectively. I believe this to be true of every class.

Our opening style/DD/DD is great for shock value and usually sends a solo invader heading for the hills. Going against an even con pure tank toe-to-toe we will get the snot beat out of us.. so the trick is to get in every bit of dmg possible before it turns into a slug fest.

By no means do I think Skalds are over powered. I would agree that Skalds are the most valuable (aka requested) melee class but that is for utility reasons (i.e., speed song and dmg song). Plus I love the class so I am biased. Skalds are great in certain situations and a good Skald puts themselves in those situations as much as possible.

regarding the bards and minstrels, they are encumbered by the need to use instruments, with the exception of minstrel shouts. Everything a bard casts requires a casting time with the exception of the amnesia/interrupt spells and neither have the additional snare ability. Simply, the snare is overkill for an already unusually powerful class. Niether the bard or the minstrel has the instant cast group damage add and bards only get one dd shout. Thank Mythic the skalds dont get a power song,but they are an overpowered attack class anyway. Needless to say you usually run into several skalds in an encounter(one with speed, one with damage add and one with health regen)since everyone likes to play an easy dominating over powered class. Very convenient not to have to drop an instrument to melee with the other 3 mid tank classes. tell me one skald disadvantage. I would really like to hear it.

i agree skalds are overpowered for rvr. the first anonymous responder is further proof of that. I think at a minimum snare should require a cast time. so what if it is on a timer. snare is rarely resisted and highly effective (too effective)and inevitably leads to the demise of whoever gets snared if mids are in pursuit. It is obvious who Mythic's favorite realm is. I dont think snare should override ranger's forest shadow line. I think the other realms should have instant casts more so than what they do or none should. If the goal is imbalance, then congratulations. and yes i do have a skald. lvl 22, but quite frankly i dont rvr much with him because it is not much of a challenge. If you are not interested in an rvr challenge, the skald class is for you.

I have a skald and you can put any other class in the game in front of me and he will be beaten. I have never fallen to any other class in this game in a 1v1 and most of the time in a 2v1. Skalds can easily take any melee class if you know how to play them correctly. Stay on alb mister pally man

clerics have both mezz, stuns and i'm pretty sure they have insta heals like other healing type classes

minstrels have charms, stealth and insta mezz,

bards have thier insta heals, mezz and are mainly for group support, not soloing

skalds roots and mezz are both on a timer 30 seconds

for all bardic types that speed is interupted if your hit or attack while its active

yes while a skald doesn't have instruments theyhave no powersong or end song like a bard/minstrel does

so while yes a skald does have a nice little selection of skills by no means is the skald the super uber character of the game by any means, i think its actually quite well balenced with the minstrel (and as for the bard, if he specs to solo instead of group work then also the bard).

Laertise -- another LFG 42nd ranger on the list for hours... (retired)

dont know about you but i think you suck if you cant solo a freakin yellow. im a 29 Skald i can solo yellow and orange **** i can even take 2 yellows most of the time all you do is snare nuke nuke mez bam theres no way you can lose then when the mez brakes nuke nuke and the attack its all over onec you od that. its like kiting only you tank alot more. and yes we can use weapons well we use our songs.

Personally I think skalds are 1 of the most wanted in a group besides a healer, in my exp skalds are a great addition to groups. Plus RvR we are always wanted in groups, and I dont know about the rest of u skalds out there but i can easily solo yellows and sometimes take oranges cuz of shouts so if u ask me the skald is a pretty good tank, although we cant take as much damage as warriors we have a good amount.

Absolutely! From level 5 to the current 43, I have never had problems soloing. It's always been faster xp to group (at least since the 20's or so), but I always know I can solo when I can't find a group. And by 'solo' I don't mean hope to find a low blue or something. Yellows are no problem, and Orange cons are about an 85% deal, honestly, they just take forever, and deplete my resources.

I still haven't found a class in RvR that I can't take 1 on 1, even con for melees, or orange to red for casters. The speed and shouts of a skald, coupled with some serious melee skills, are more than a match for just about anything the tree-huggers or albonks can muster up. Just watch out for archers, not having shield spec means we don't get engage, so that run up to the affending sniper can get a bit hairy. If you can get to them though, they're toast.

So don't listen to pointy-eared freaks or can-heads when they try to tell you "i have a skald and i can't solo sh*t." They just trying to discourage you.

From the magical world of hibbies, I say not. I have a 32, with all orange amror, weapon, ect (Grey Gloves) so what... and to tell you the truth I have a 50% chance of living while fighting a yellow... and I have erm... all orange armor and... an orange weapon (with grey gloves, shoot me). I had to give her up, because if my class can't solo (I'm a horrilbe grouper) I'm toast.

Keep Battlesongs maxed. Even though you suck, the party may just keep you around for your "Chant of Damage" songs(btw, HOW can you be 32 with grey gloves? does something not fire off in your brain, telling you to buy a new friggan pair?). And im spent.

Lets clarify something. Skalds are NOT Bards or Minstrels. If we were, we would have to use instruments just like Bards and Minstrels in the other two Realms. Even though our spec is called Battlesongs, they arent songs that you play. The only thing we have that is really a song type is Rest/Dmg/Speed. The other 4 lines are not songs.

Bards and Minstrels, even though they can train in weapon skills, are not a melee class. They do very little damage compared to any other melee. They also cant tank a mob. A Skald can.

Skalds are sort of like the Barbarian class from Diablo 2, which definately aren't bards. Only unlike the Barbarian from D2, were not the main tanks in the game.

Anyone who says Skalds cant melee or tank are ignorant and probably dont even play a Skald class. If they do they should change classes because they dont know how to play one.

Were tanks with some magical abilities gifted to us by our God Bragi. Your base class is a Warrior/Fighter. The Bard and Minstrel from the other realms base classes are not fighter or warrior.

The truth of this comes clear in RvR. When you run up on that orange conning bard and open up on him with 2 DDs and a chop for a third to half of his life, I have yet to find one that doesn't panic and turn. If some other villain doesn't peel you off (Mez, Stun, or Firey death), he will not live past your second 2 DDs. I find it silly that I find myself chasing down orange invaders/defenders fleeing from me alone on a regular basis. I dont feel that the Skald is particularly over potent in the big mosh type battles which is the Thane's strongest point, but if you get into single combat with an orange anyone, you have even odds or better. The best is speedily running up on a red caster. You hit hit him right before his spell goes off with those DDs (I have never not disrupted a red caster with one of my 2 DDs), and proceed to chop him to bits before he can wave at you, there is no higher satisfaction in RvR IMO. I am still a lobie (level 34) and maybe things will be different at higher levels, but for now I dont mind getting punked by purples and red thumpers for a shot at anyone else.

-Gutnak Sagonabeatcha

...Gutnak is just a fairy tale Troll to scare Hibernian children......Isn't he?

What the hades does it mean when you try to stun a critter and can't because it is already 'enraged'? It sounds like you can't stun something that has already been hit for damage - is that it? If so, if somebody swings and misses a critter can we still stun it?

Unless the 'someone' is me running solo and using my slow to pull crutters.

Speaking of - this class really is good at solo play! With our DD shouts and battle chants we do only a little less damage than the warriors, our Slow lets us pull, the stun can help us get away if we pull two, the travel spell can take us out further from bind stones and helps us get away from bad situations, and the rest spell lets us heal faster than most. We do have fewer hit points, though, and we can't use our shields all that well to defend the ones we have.

In groups we've got the jack-of-all-trades problem. We can stun but the healer can stun far better. We can hit for damage but the warriors will do far more damage. We can pull with that slow spell but, at least in my experience, we don't have enough mana power to both pull and use the DD shouts in a group that is tearing down monsters quickly.

Our battle chant is incredible, probably doing at least as much damage as a warrior all by itself if you have a large group, but you only need one skald to do it. Thus a good Midguard group should have one but only one skald in it.

Actaully with your DDs and damage-per-hit songs you do about 30% more damage than a Warrior (assuming the Warrior isn't in your group getting the song bonus). Where the Warrior is better is that he gets more hits, much better shields and much better defensive styles.

Back to the initial thread you can only do so much damage to a creature before your mez won't stick. I find that against yellow mobs I like to open with DD, DD, mez. This mez seems to stick even if you hit for fair damage on those DD hits. Once that mez wears off your DDs are ready to go again so it's 4 blasts and a swing to his one swing to open the fight.

When you goto your trainer and it shows you need 30 pts to train your battlesongs, that means your current BASE skill is at 29 without item additives. You dont have to take off all your items to see what the base is. You dont get new skills/spells for Items that add to a spec. Only stronger effects off the skills/spells you currently have. To obtain new skills/spells you have to raise your Base (Actual) skill level to the level of the skill/spell you want to aquire.

Er...you can't train your skill higher than your level. What I believe you are referring to is your buffed Battlesong's level. I assume the number is green when you look at it on your abilities sheet?

Even if a skill is buffed by skill-enhancing equipment (such as the Skald's Battlesinger's cloak, or medallion), you do NOT get additional skills until you actually train for that level.

Case in point: As a Skald, I am training sword as my weapon. If I equip a weapon that gives me +2 to hammer (Red Bludgeoner, for example), then even though my skill would be comprable to someone who had trained hammer to 3, I would not get the hammer style.

So you need to remove all of your equipment, then see what your level is. Because it can't be 31 at level 30. This means it's probably only really at 28-29.

Hehe...too much DA, nub enough sleep. Thanks for pointing out the obvious that I forgot. I am now at 31 spec at lvl 31. I think I'll cap Battlesongs at 46, as the Song of Rest is of little use unless I am soloing.

As a skald, you have 2 DD shouts. Each has it's own 20 second timer. You can fire both off at the same time, and have to wait 20 seconds for each to count down. Or, you can fire one off, wait 10 seconds, then fire the other. At this exact moment, your first shout has 10 seconds left until you can use it again, but your second one now has 20 seconds left on it's counter to use it again.

To put it simply, they work independantly of eachother, and have their own seperate recharge timers.

What do you mean expansion to 60 or 75 when talking about full spec in songs?

The rest songs really need to be worked on. Midgard only has 2 healing class's, an actual working +hp regen song would be nice. Its "ok" now, but you'll never hardly play it in group unless there is 2 skalds.

As for endurance recovery, why get to level 50? You'll just be waisting your points for 2 more endurance regen per tic. Where you could be putting them into sword or parry.

As for parry, it is a very nice skill in this game. If you put some points into it you'll notice the difference, especially when soloing. My parry skill, which sucks, is at lvl 8 at lvl 34. I may only parry 1 or 2 blows a fight, but when soloing thats 200 pnts of dmg I don't take, and I only have 650 some odd hps. Or in group fighting big mobs that ONE parry could save you 250 hps from a big hit. So, don't overlook the parry skill.

FYI -the 'rest' songs raise endurance recovery rates NOT health -the 'mez' songs are stuns, they agro when it wears off -the DD spells do more than listed (about twice) -the best reason to get the 50 spell is : Expansion to 75 (or 60 ,whatever)

If you right click on any spell/song then press Shift + I you will get a window pop-up telling you exactly what they do. And you wont have to feel stupid coming here posting information that is incorrect. None of the rest songs have Endurance regen so far for my skald at lvl 35, just hit regen.

One reason for capping the skill at lvl 50 is so we can put more to our weapon skill. Unlike the Minstrel and Bard classes in the other two realms, Skalds can actually Melee. And alot of times are main tanks in groups. 46 songs is still good, and that 4 skill you dont train is enough to bump weapons up in the 40s and parry to the high teens.

Sorry idiot, the rest songs dont boost endurance, they regen hp, cause if you would try sitting without rest song and watch your endurance it goes up same speed as with the song but your hp move at bout a third the rate...next time you post something actually have a clue

The DD's definitely do more than listed above. My Warshrieks are doing somewhere around 60 damage. (And I can kill a spectral pig with one shout. Since there's a bug that causes the spell effect not to display when the target dies from the shout attack, it looks like I simply walk up to the pig ghost and it dies. Muhahahaha!)

I think he means 'expansion' to character levels that are higher. DAoC has followed in EQ's footsteps in everything else so that does seem likely.

Here is a tip, scroll up to the battlesong information Allakhazam has posted and see where it says anything about end regen. It dont because you dont get it. All rest songs are only health regen. First one being 2 hits per tick, and 2 hits pr tick more each upgrade. The last one being 12 hits per tick.

in my personal experiece specing full into battle songs is a good thing but parry and skalds are kinda dumb since skalds cant tank no matter what u do for them.. there more of a support fighter for a party..but in parties skalds are strong.. but specing full into battlesong and here and there dropping into your weaponskill is good...cause if your weapon is not speced fully u have a higher chance of doing low dmg..speced fully u have a a 100% chance of hitting between 75%-100% of the dmg u can possibly do before critical hit

Warriors are the primary tanks. If you have one in the group there is no doubt he is the main tank.

Thanes are probably second best tank in Midgard. Im a skald, and maybe some other Skalds may argue with me about that. But Thanes seem to do alot more dmg then a Skald with some of there spells. So Ide put one ahead of me for main tank if no warrior is available.

Skalds are third tank in line. If your Skald cant tank worth a ****, you need a serious armor upgrade. Skalds, regardless what anyone might say, are tanks. Not a main tank in the realm, but they are there to take the dmg off healers and casters. If they werent tanks, there would be no reason to give them Protect. And Skalds get Protect 2. I have about same amount of hits and AF as a Thane my lvl with basiclly same armor. As for not doing as much dmg? What you think that battlesong is for? :)

Berserkers, are last in line to tank. They should never be made a tank if any other the Warrior based classes from Midgard are int he group. Because they only can wear Studded armor and cant tank as long or as well as the other three chain wearers. Zerkers are more dmg dealers then tanks in the group. But if they are the only Warrior based class in the group, they can tank. Healers just might use a bit more power per round with the heals. Berserkers can solo low orange cons. They do a good amount of Dmg. They can tank, but should be used last as main tank in a group.

In my personal experience mt troll skald has been the most effective tank and melee damage dealer I have seen. If you want to tank you have only to get the best shield you can use and throw it onto an enchanter. Once you have your shield with 15% bonus you will see that soloing yellow mobs is pretty risk free and the couple blocks you get off reds and purples when grouped saves quite a bit of healer mana. Then you tack on parry skill and a sword with decent bonus, and when you get the weapon skill that slows enemies, you are as much or more of a tank than anyone except for the straight warrior. So what trades have we made? I have a 26 Skald with 23 songs, 11 parry, and 18 swords. Ok if I had max swords I would hit for 100% to 150% of the "Base" damage chart. So long as my sword skill is higher than 50% of my level I do 75% to 125% of the "Base" damage chart. Of course skill less than 50% gives you 50% to 100%. The extra damage you do for maxing a weapon skill is not really a bonus, it is compensation for the other things you leave behind. The only difference in the songs for being 3 levels short is 2 skills I am missing. For songs the damage and resist is level based not skill based. If you read anything the designers put out it never recommends maxing a skill out because of the holes it leaves in your game. With the skills you see above in all blue and yellow equipment I can risk free hunt yellows even when I have a damage penalty for my weapon for that mob. I am 95% of the time the lead tank for my group and ALWAYS the lead damage dealer. That 25% damage I lost for not maxing my sword skill is rewarded 3 fold by the better damage songs I have, and those 2 songs I lost from my song list for now are more than compensated by my better melee ability.

-Gutnak is just a fairy tale Troll Skald used to frighten Blodfelag children...isn't he??

I thought the same thing as you when I was level 26 or so - regarding songs. In fact I was about 2 behind my level in skill, just like you. Around level 28 or so I changed my tune and decided that it was important for me to bring my battlesong skill up to max.

Why? Well... Unless you primarily solo, you will do *far* more for a group with your songs than you ever will with your weapon. The damage add song is the primary place you will see this - as it's (at 35) an extra 5.8dps to everyone in the group (excepting thanes, usually). Look at a typical group - most Midgard groups seem somewhat melee heavy. Say a shaman, healer, one caster, a thane, yourself, and 3 of any other class that swings a weapon in combat (that's more non melee than I have had in my groups all week). You're giving 4 people 5.8dps, as opposed to hitting once or twice more for 30 with your sword (more if you use a 2h, but then you are slow as all get out and misses really hurt). The more melee heavy the group, the greater the benefit. Try taking out keeps and you will find that vs the lords, a skald's damage add is considered to be vital. In my opinion, you want to have the best one that you can have, as soon as you can possibly have it.

Granted, at lower levels this isn't necessarily as important. Nor is it as important if you mostly solo. But if you are a grouping skald, battlesongs are where it's at.

My personal quandry lies in whether to invest more in parry than I currently have...

I had planned on specing fully into battlesongs, but dropping just one level out of battle songs (having it at spec 49 at char 50) would allow me to spec another skill to level 10 by level 50, and the last really usefull song i see on our list is at 46, which would allow for a decent amount to be put into a secondary skill.

Then i looked at the weapon skills, and they all take up fatigue, and our endurance will already be taxed by our DD bellows and shout, so i'm not sure the lower level weapon styles that we could get would be an efficent use of our stamina. not sure how weapon skill affects weapon damage but that may be a plus to taking a weapon up a bit

Our only other skill is parry, are levels in parry worth dropping out battlesongs from full spec?